U11s Roundup 3 – More Wins as Coaches Let Players Take Control!

Away match: Thame U11s vs Warborough & Shillingford

Having played Away in a friendly match against Warborough in the previous week and won, we decided that any of the team who were available this week and who had played the previous weeks match would play in the Home fixture this week.

So we took a brand new team over to Warbs and they did not disappoint.

The coaches made a point of allowing the Thame team to choose a captain and vice captain, decide on their pairs and batting and bowling orders. In addition to setting their own field and making fielding changes i.e. little intervention from the coaches.

Pre-match team talk was to support and encourage each other when things go wrong, celebrate when things go well and most importantly have fun.

Warborough called and won the toss and put us into bat, despite a slow start Thame racked up 299 for the loss of 13 wickets. Bertie was pick of the batting with 16 not out.

Warborough played well but were restricted to 277-7 by some accurate bowling and dot balls plus a lovely caught bowled from Elias and a flurry of run outs including 3 from Brody.

Despite losing a lot of wickets, it was a solid all round performance and Thame won by 22 runs.

Plenty for the coaches to work on this week at training, in particular ‘getting in’ or at least having one sighter before letting rip and choosing which end to run out – great fun though and a really lovely ground.

It was safe to say that the Thame team were ‘pumped’ after the game and insisted on celebratory photos on the pitch!

Home match: Thame U11s vs Goring

The game against Goring at the Church Meadow started off with a damp outfield, so when Goring won the toss they elected to bat first hoping the moisture would make the ball difficult to bowl with.

Thame had other ideas though, and although the first two batting pairs scored 41 runs, Thame took regular wickets and eventually restricted Goring to 274/10 with Clement Swain picking up best figures of 8/3 from two overs. The fielding was amazing with some great backing up, all catches taken and two run outs.

In reply, Thame scored steadily and only lost three wickets, one a direct hit from the outfield coming back for two runs. Elizabeth top scored with eight fours in her 34 not out and ensured Thame won comfortably finishing on 323/3.

Next Sunday we are at home to Tiddington and Away to Oxford & Bletchingdon

Written by Matt Swain

One thought on “U11s Roundup 3 – More Wins as Coaches Let Players Take Control!

  • 21st May 2024 at 2:05 pm
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    Amazing, keep it up, loving the smiles ! Well done

    Reply

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